Be honest: is SCing on a long trip annoying?

[ElectricTundra]

I don't find stopping at Superchargers annoying at all, taking a break every couple hours is just right. Combined with using Autopilot I'm finding I feel much more relaxed at end of the day.

I do wish some of the Supercharger locations had better selection of restaurants or things to do

This!

Also, adding reviews to Chargerville will help others with good eating options. We're also starting to get an idea of which chargers people like which not. Some of the folks at Tesla have been checking the rankings and comments so it could help with future location selection.

On my recent trip to California, I found the next SpC stop gave me something to look forward to.

Yes. My thought as well.

 

[Cyclone]

It was on Oppositelock then it was promoted to the front page of Jalopnik

http://oppositelock.kinja.com/a-jou...3431825#_ga=1.126050253.1133065412.1474938575

Woot! Woot! I remember the article now. Thanks!

P.S. - Yes, she most definitely loved you for not complaining during that trip and she should totally be a keeper, even before the S!

 

[f-stop]

Also, adding reviews to Chargerville will help others with good eating options. We're also starting to get an idea of which chargers people like which not. Some of the folks at Tesla have been checking the rankings and comments so it could help with future location selection.

Somehow I never heard of the Chargerville site before - thanks! I'll definitely check it for the last several chargers on our trip home.

btw one other tiny annoying thing about long distance Supercharging: having to pull into a gas station once in a while to wash the windshield! (At least this makes for an amusing photo op)

I noticed some thoughful person left a bucket of water and squeegee at the Centralia WA Supercharger, that made me think it'd be great if more of the Superchargers had squeegees or better yet a garden hose/nozzle... though I guess that would require some sort of maintenance effort/cost at those locations.

 

[dhh12]

I think one of the unintended consequences of my 1400 mile trek that I did not consider was the weight gain from snacking at each SC stop.. Arby's, steak and shake, Bass Pro Shops, Applebees...to name a few.

So now I mentally remind myself I do not have to eat every time I charge!!

Kansas was particularly dangerous for my middle age figure!!! See below...

 

[GTIceman]

Woot! Woot! I remember the article now. Thanks!

P.S. - Yes, she most definitely loved you for not complaining during that trip and she should totally be a keeper, even before the S!

Here is the new post

http://oppositelock.kinja.com/the-better-road-trip-my-tesla-delivery-1787851895

 

[ElectricTundra]

I think one of the unintended consequences of my 1400 mile trek that I did not consider was the weight gain from snacking at each SC stop.. Arby's, steak and shake, Bass Pro Shops, Applebees...to name a few.

Yes. And the new sensors that will allow our cars to drop us off and then go park won't help either. Perhaps Tesla should add some pedals (bicycle) so that we can get a bit of activity while we drive.

 

[ElectricTundra]

Somehow I never heard of the Chargerville site before - thanks! I'll definitely check it for the last several chargers on our trip home.

Kind of a sleeper rollout. Only about 600 reviews so far but slowly moving forward.

 

[GTIceman]

Kind of a sleeper rollout. Only about 600 reviews so far but slowly moving forward.

I posted some feedback on a few yesterday. I had never heard about it either

 

[whitex]

After driving coast to coast for 4 days, updating as promised. They say a picture is worth a 1000 words, so saving myself some typing As you can see, outside of California the SC picture looks a little different. These are pictures from all superchargers I visited over 4 days (in order from top left).

To answer OP's original question, I actually like the charge-drive-charge cycle, except when I had to charge past 80%, then the charging did get a little long.

PS> Don't trust Tesla trip planner unless you're planning to drive under the speed limit, especially through places with 70 or 80 mph speed limits. Use EVTripPlanner for a much better estimate.

 

[GTIceman]

I just wish EVTripPlanner worked better on mobile or the Tesla browser

 

[MorrisonHiker]

I just wish EVTripPlanner worked better on mobile or the Tesla browser

Have you given ABetterRoutePlanner.com a try? It just launched last week and is nice and concise. There are still a few quirks but the developer is quick to fix things.

 

[Xenius]

Have you given ABetterRoutePlanner.com a try? It just launched last week and is nice and concise. There are still a few quirks but the developer is quick to fix things.

WIll check this out.

 

[RogerHScott]

After driving coast to coast for 4 days, updating as promised. They say a picture is worth a 1000 words, so saving myself some typing As you can see, outside of California the SC picture looks a little different. These are pictures from all superchargers I visited over 4 days (in order from top left).
View attachment 200278

To answer OP's original question, I actually like the charge-drive-charge cycle, except when I had to charge past 80%, then the charging did get a little long.

PS> Don't trust Tesla trip planner unless you're planning to drive under the speed limit, especially through places with 70 or 80 mph speed limits. Use EVTripPlanner for a much better estimate.

I realize it would be a lot of typing, but it'd be fun if you could post a list of where all of these are (or a map showing which ones you stopped at, from which one could deduce that).

 

[Jeff4155]

Quick question from one who does not have Tesla in our country yet, why don't they install the SC at the fuel stations? or is there some kind of conflict of interest? other than the fuel of course most large fuel stations have all the convenient shops and window washing one needs plus in our country at least labour is still relatively cheap so we have Fuel attendants

 

[RogerHScott]

At least here, relatively few gas stations have enough parking lot space to fit an SpC. Also, who wants to hang around a grimy, smelly dino juice station if they don't have to?

 

[Chopr147]

Tesla is doing this. They have an agreement with Sheets, a gas station chain in W Virginia area. Now may be getting into an agreement with Quick-Chek, another gas station/convenience store in Northeast USA.

 

[Jeff4155]

Don't get me wrong I would much rather be at a charging station at say a Mall than at a fuel station, but when driving from say Cape town to Johannesburg which is 1450 km distance you don't have the convenience of a shopping center, the fuel stations on our highways do tend to cater for everyone and would make for perfect spots for the SC when Tesla becomes available.

 

[f-stop]

PS> Don't trust Tesla trip planner unless you're planning to drive under the speed limit, especially through places with 70 or 80 mph speed limits. Use EVTripPlanner for a much better estimate.

I just took my first long road trip (i.e. route needing more than 1 Supercharger stop), and using v8 trip planner in the car I feel it seemed to do a pretty good job at estimating energy usage. The route was mostly down I-5 to northern CA and back. 18 SC stops in total.

With only a couple exceptions, I arrived at each next SC within a few % +/- of the charge remaining estimated when leaving the previous stop. The couple exceptions it was lower by about 6-8% from the Tesla estimate, I'll have to check my VisibleTesla logs but I assume those were probably the steeper mountainous sections of the trip. not a big worry at the time since I usually aimed to arrive with a conservative 15-20% buffer, often staying a bit longer at a SC than required. I was using TACC and/or AP most of the way, usually set to a few kph over the speed limit, many stretches were 70mph limit. I did use evtripplanner before leaving home to get a feel for the stops along the way, and though I haven't gone back to compare actual vs evtripplanner estimates, my gut feeling is none of the segments were much different than either planning method. Bottom line is after the first few SC stops I didn't feel nervous about the estimates I was seeing on the Tesla nav/energy graphs.

maybe on more challenging route or of course driving faster or more severe weather would make a bigger difference from the estimates. or has the v8 planner improved?? I only did shorter SC road trips with v7 so can't really compare.

 

[Max*]

I trust the Tesla energy graph for charging. I always arrive within a few percent, and I never do the speed limit.

 

[whitex]

I just wish EVTripPlanner worked better on mobile or the Tesla browser

I planned ahead, exported CSV, then sent a list of all superchargers to my phone, including actual miles, rated miles, up/down, etc.